JP5800262B2 - Accurate font activation - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention is generally directed to font management, and more particularly to systems and methods for accurately activating fonts.

Document creation programs, document processing programs, desktop publishing applications, web publishing, document printing applications, and other computer programs typically allow the user to select various fonts for document creation and printing. As the number of fonts has increased over the years, it has become increasingly difficult for users to manage various fonts.
For example, there may be a conflict between one font and another. If a document with conflicting fonts is processed by the computing system, these conflicts can result in incorrect font activation and / or use by the computing system. Thus, font conflicts can cause the computing system to perform incorrect processing (eg, incorrect loading, display, printing, etc.) of the document.
Further, the timing of the computing system and / or document processing determines whether font conflicts occur and may determine whether the computing system performs incorrect document processing. For example, whether or not a font conflict occurs may depend on the timing of font activation, the timing of document processing, and / or the operating system of the computing system.

  In view of the above, a system and method for ensuring accurate font activation so that the correct font is selected, activated, and used during document processing, such as during document use, printing, rendering, etc. Is desirable. Additionally or alternatively, in view of the above, a system that ensures accurate font activation by resolving one or more font conflicts before the computing system performs wrong document processing due to font conflicts, and It is desirable to provide a method.

  This summary is provided to describe a selection of concepts in a simplified form that are further described below in the Detailed Description. This summary is not intended to identify key or essential features of the claimed subject matter, nor is it intended to be used to limit the scope of the claimed subject matter. Absent.

  It is an object of the present invention to provide a system and method for identifying conflicts in one or more documents and resolving font conflicts. It is a further object of the present invention to provide a system and method for accurately activating fonts for various document processing purposes including, for example, document printing. It is a further object of the present invention to provide a system and method for resolving one or more font conflicts before the computing system performs incorrect document processing due to font conflicts.

  According to at least some aspects of the disclosure, a computing system environment is provided for confirming and preventing the occurrence of font conflicts. According to some aspects of the disclosure, one or more fonts can be identified and a font conflict can be confirmed based on the identified fonts. According to some aspects of the disclosure, it is possible to determine an alternative font for a font associated with a font conflict. In other aspects, alternative fonts can be modified based on font conflicts. In yet another aspect of the disclosure, one or more documents associated with a font conflict can be modified based on the modified information of the substitute font. According to yet another aspect of the disclosure, one or more documents associated with a font conflict can be utilized for subsequent processing. According to some aspects of the disclosure, a second modification to one or more documents can restore the original state.

Various embodiments of the present disclosure can provide several advantages for users such as creative department specialists or prepress operators. For example, a creative department expert who prints multiple documents does not have to worry about which fonts are active in the system, because font conflicts between documents are prevented before the documents are printed.
Additionally and / or alternatively, batch printing of documents can be automated regardless of whether the documents in the print job include a font with the same Postscript name as the system font required to run the operating system. is there. Therefore, even if the document includes conflicting fonts, it is possible to perform simultaneous printing or parallel processing of the document. Thus, the document can be printed as intended by the creative department professional and / or designer.

  The foregoing and other novel advantages, details, embodiments, features, and objects of the present disclosure will become apparent from the following detailed description, the appended claims, and the accompanying drawings enumerated herein. It will be clear to the person.

In the accompanying drawings in which like reference numerals represent like elements, several embodiments are shown for purposes of illustration and not limitation.
FIG. 6 illustrates an example of a data processing system configured to implement one or more illustrative aspects of the invention. FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating two example documents that have the potential for font conflicts between document fonts. FIG. 6 illustrates one or more effects that may be caused by an example font conflict. It is a figure which shows an example of the method of providing the correct font information regarding the font of a document. It is a figure which shows an example of the method which can prevent a font conflict. FIG. 6 illustrates an example method for preventing font conflicts according to one or more aspects of the present disclosure.

  In the following description of various embodiments, reference is made to the accompanying drawings that form a part hereof, and in which are shown by way of illustration various embodiments in which the invention may be practiced. Of course, other embodiments may be utilized and structural and functional modifications may be made without departing from the scope of the present invention.

Aspects of the present disclosure relate to systems and methods for managing various fonts. Furthermore, at least some aspects of the present disclosure are directed to systems and methods for accurately activating fonts used in one or more documents.
With reference to FIG. 1, the methods and techniques described herein may be implemented in a computing system environment 100. The computing system environment 100 includes, for example, a general-purpose computer device such as a desktop computer, a laptop computer, a notebook computer, a network server, a portable computer device, a portable terminal, a smartphone, a cellular phone, a distributed computing network device, or As described, depending on the configuration, it represents any other device with the necessary components or capabilities to be configured as a dedicated device in accordance with one or more aspects that are illustrative of the invention.
The environment 100 includes a central processing unit (CPU) or other processor 103, a RAM or other volatile memory 105, a ROM or other boot memory 107, a computing device (eg, the computing system environment 100) and a network (eg, Network interface 109 (for example, Ethernet (registered trademark), wireless network interface, modem, etc.) that enables connection of the Internet, LAN, WAN, PAN, etc., input / output port 111 (for example, keyboard, mouse, monitor, Printer, USB port, serial port, parallel port, IEEE1394 / firewire port, etc.) and non-volatile memory 113 (for example, fixed disk, optical disk, holographic storage, removeable) Storage medium may include a flash drive, etc.).
The environment 100 includes, but is not limited to, operating system software 115, font modules 117 (eg, one or more plug-ins and / or other font software), data 119 (eg, documents, font files, job jackets, And other data described herein) and other documents such as document creation software and document processing software (eg, ADOBE® brand application, QUARK® brand application, document printing application, etc.) Various programs, applications, and data including software 121 can be stored in memory 113.
Document creation software can be used to create text, charts, images, photos, multimedia, or any other type of visually recognizable document, any currently known or later developed Software.

One or more aspects of the present disclosure provide one or more programs executed by one or more computers or other devices to render one or more fonts and output them on a device such as a display or printer. It can be embodied as computer usable data and / or computer executable instructions such as modules.
Generally, program modules include routines, programs, objects, components, data structures, etc. that implement particular abstract data types when executed by a computer processor or other data processing device. Computer-executable instructions can be stored in computer-readable media such as a hard disk, optical disk, removable storage medium, solid state memory, RAM, and the like.
As will be apparent to those skilled in the art, the functionality of the program can be combined or distributed as required in the various embodiments. Further, the functionality can be implemented in whole or in part by firmware or hardware equivalents such as integrated circuits, field programmable gate arrays (FPGAs), and the like. Certain data structures may be utilized to more effectively implement one or more aspects of the present invention, such data structures being computer-executable instructions and computer-usable as described herein. Possible within the scope of the data.

  Still referring to FIG. 1, as described above, computing system environment 100 may include document software 121 that interacts with operating system 115. The operating system 115 can include an application program interface for activating fonts in the global area. That is, depending on the configuration, all programs executed by the operating system 115 can access and use the activated font. Additionally or alternatively, the operating system 115 may activate the font within the process space of the application that is referenced and used only by that particular process. The operating system 115 may present a list of fonts that are currently activated in the computing system environment 100.

  Depending on the configuration, for a particular font that is activated in the computing system environment 100, the physical data associated with the font (eg, a font file representing the characteristics of the font, etc.) is installed in the computing system environment 100. May be necessary. In some embodiments, the operating system 115 can store font data that is installed in a font folder. In addition, the operating system 115 can include a system registry database that maintains information about installed fonts. Fonts are installed by storing appropriate data in the font folder and / or updating information in the system registry. Once properly installed, the installed font can be activated. In some cases, the location of physical data relating to a font installed upon activation of the font, eg, the path to the data and the identification name of the physical data itself (eg, the path to the font folder and the filename of the font file). It is also possible to include identifying. When activated, an application in a computing system environment can use one or more of the installed fonts. For example, the application accesses the font file of the activated font and plays the font according to the font file.

Depending on the configuration, the computing system environment 100 may include a font module 117. Depending on the configuration, one or more management plug-ins are written in the font module 117, and in conjunction with the document processing application 121 (eg, written to connect to Adobe, quark, document printing application, etc.) The computing system environment 100 may be supported with respect to font management and accurate activation.
As one example, font module 117 may include an auto-activation plug-in that automatically turns fonts on and off within the application. For example, plug-ins and / or XTensions include Adobe (registered trademark) InDesign (registered trademark) CS4, Adobe Illustrator (registered trademark) CS4, and Quark XP Press 8, InCopy, CopyDisk, etc., Creative Suite software, , QuarkXPress 7 support may be included. Auto-activation plug-ins work in the background and allow you to work seamlessly with user-selected applications while automatically activating fonts. In some configurations, the font module 117 may assist in managing fonts and / or accurately activating fonts by interacting with and / or using information from the font manager 123. The font module 117 may identify and prevent font conflicts before document processing. This method example will be described later in detail.

  Depending on the configuration, the computing system environment 100 may access the font database when activating fonts and / or processing other font-related requests. For example, in processes executed in the computing system environment 100, information related to fonts is requested (for example, checking whether a certain font is installed in the system, fetching an installed font list, certain fonts, etc.) The operating system 115 may be installed in the computing system environment 100 and return information about one or more fonts corresponding to the request. In response, the operating system 115 can send information about the currently activated font, such as the name of the activated font, the path to the font file of the activated font, the activation level of the activated font, etc. .

Additionally or alternatively, depending on the configuration, the computing system environment 100 may include a font manager 123 that is configured to identify, activate, and deactivate fonts. In embodiments with a font manager 123, the font manager 123 can perform installation of fonts and / or activation of fonts in the computing system environment 100. Depending on the configuration, the font manager 123 may access the font database 125. When activating a font, the font manager 123 can install the font from the font database 125 into the storage space of the operating system 115 (eg, in a database of installed fonts (not shown) of the operating system 115). By remembering that font). When deactivating a font, the font manager 123 can remove the font from the operating system 115 storage space (eg, from a database of installed fonts (not shown) of the operating system 115). By removing the font). Depending on the configuration, by installing and / or removing fonts from the storage space of operating system 115, the operating system can maintain knowledge of a small subset of all fonts that can be installed on the computer.
Alternatively, the font manager 123 may interact with document software 121, such as a document creation application, to identify the font of the document and generate a font identification key for the identified font. This method example will be described later in detail. In some embodiments, the font database 125 may be separated from the font manager 123 (eg, a remote database accessible via the network interface 109).

  In some embodiments, the computing system environment 100 interacts with various portions of the computing system environment 100 (eg, operating system 115, document software 121, etc.) (eg, via the input / output port 111). 127 can also be included. Depending on the configuration, a user may interact with the computing system environment 100 and print a document using the printing system 127. For example, the user may interact with the document software 121 and / or the operating system 115 to load the document and print the document using the printing system.

  Various aspects of the disclosure relate to accurately activating fonts in a computing system environment. In some embodiments, accurate activation of fonts can include identifying potential font conflicts and resolving potential font conflicts before allowing subsequent processing of the document. For example, fonts associated with one or more documents and / or computing systems can be identified (eg, a first font and a second font). Identifying a font can identify potential conflicts between fonts (eg, potential conflicts between a first font and a second font). Based on the identified conflict or potential conflict, information related to the potential conflict (eg, information of the first font, information of the second font, and / or information of one or more documents) It is possible to resolve the potential conflict before making modifications and allowing further processing of the document. When the matching information is modified, the document related to the potential conflict can be used for subsequent processing by using the modified information.

Font conflicts can occur between fonts installed in the computing system environment, between fonts currently active in the computing system environment, and / or between fonts associated with one or more documents. An example of a potential font conflict that can be identified, resolved, etc. is a conflict arising from a font with the same identification information. Under certain conditions, font conflicts with the same identification information may result, and one or more documents may be processed incorrectly (eg, printed incorrectly or displayed incorrectly) etc). The font identification information includes a font name such as Postscript or TrueType name. The font identification information includes a file name, a file position, and / or an arbitrary identifier of a specific font.
FIG. 2 shows two example documents with potential font conflicts between the document fonts. That is, FIG. 2 illustrates a font conflict resulting from a document including a font having the same identification information. In addition to the potential conflicts illustrated in FIG. 2, conflicts can arise from fonts with the same identification information. In one example, a potential font conflict may exist between a document font and a system font in a computing system environment.

  Referring now to the example shown in FIG. 2, the first document 201 includes a font identified by its name FONT_1 202 that can be used for playback and / or rendering of the document 201. . An example of text rendered using FONT_1 202 is shown in the content area 205. As also shown in FIG. 2, in the second document 203, a font, also named FONT_1 204, that can be used for playback and / or rendering of the document 203 is identified. The content area 207 of the second document 203 includes an example of text that is rendered using the FONT_1 204 identified by / in the second document 203. Although fonts having the same name (ie, the same identification information) are identified in the first document 201 and the second document 203, the appearance of text rendered using the two fonts 202, 204 is clearly different. Yes. Since the first document 201 and the second document 203 have a conflict between identification information of the fonts 202 and 204 (for example, font name: FONT_1), the documents 201 and 203 may be erroneously processed by the computing system. One possible case is illustrated.

Fonts with the same identification information may be created in various ways. For example, a font with the same identification information may be created by a font foundry. As an example, a font foundry creates one of the fonts with a specific Postscript name (eg, Helvetica, Currie, etc.) and has the same specific Postscript name (eg, a different version of Helvetica, Currie, etc.). Another font may be created. When a document is processed using the first font and the second font, the identification information of the first and second fonts is substantially the same or similar, but the text rendered using those fonts is different. Shows appearance and can result in font conflicts.
As another example, a font with the same identification information may be created by a multiple font foundry. For example, a first font foundry creates one of the fonts with a specific Postscript name (eg, Helvetica, Currie, etc.) and a second font foundry has the same specific Postscript name (eg, Helvetica, Another font may be created with Curie et al.). Therefore, when a document is processed using the first font and the second font, the identification information of the first and second fonts is substantially the same or similar, but the text rendered using those fonts. Exhibits a different appearance and can result in font conflicts.

Referring once again to FIG. 2, when the computing system processes document 201 and / or document 203 (eg, rendering, loading, displaying, printing, etc.), a font conflict occurs and the wrong font is activated and Can be used (eg rendered with the wrong font, loaded with the wrong font, displayed with the wrong font, printed with the wrong font, etc.) There is sex. Therefore, if a font related to font conflict (for example, fonts that conflict with each other) is activated and / or used, incorrect document processing may be performed (text rendered in the documents 201 and 203 may not be displayed correctly). is there.
FIG. 3 illustrates one or more effects that may be caused by an example font conflict. Note that the example of FIG. 3 illustrates one or more possible effects of the font conflict illustrated in FIG. There are other effects and possible conflicts. For example, another effect may include the effect of rendering the document with the wrong font. Similar effects can occur based on other conflicts, including conflicts between document fonts and system fonts. That is, FIG. 3 illustrates one or more possible effects on font conflicts caused by conflicting identification information. With respect to the conflict illustrated in FIG. 2, if the documents 201 and 203 are processed (eg, printed as in FIG. 3), the conflict between the fonts 202 and 204 may cause the effects illustrated in FIG. There is.

  In some configurations, incorrect processing of the document may result from a font having conflicting identification information. Due to conflicting information, the wrong font is used during document processing. As shown in step 301 of FIG. 3, the first document is opened and the first font is activated in the first computing system. In some embodiments, upon activation of the first font, the computing system identifies physical data relating to the first font (eg, a font file relating to the first font) and based on the identification information of the first font. Accessing that data is included. For example, after activating a first font, an application that processes the first document may need access to the font file of the first font (eg, rendering the first document, When printing). The application can access the font file via the activated font having the identification information of the first font.

  In step 303, the second document is opened and the second font is activated. In some cases, the first font and the second font may have the same or similar identification information (eg, the same or similar font name such as the same Postscript name). Depending on the configuration, this is conflicting identification information, so when the second font is activated, the second font may replace the first font as the font activated for that identification information. is there. When the second font replaces the first font as the activated font, the application that processes the first document will instead have access to the font file of the first font, instead of being allowed to access the font file of the first font. Access to the font file of the font may be allowed. Thus, activation and / or use of fonts with the same identification information can cause font conflicts and incorrect document processing.

  Step 305 of FIG. 3 shows one example where the first document may be processed incorrectly after activating the second font. In step 305, the first document is printed by the computing system using a second font (eg, a recently activated font with the same identification information). Printing may access an activated font that matches the identification information of the first font and print the document based on the characteristics of the activated font. Since the second font replaces the first font as the activated font for its identification information, the font file for the second font is used by the computing system when printing the first document. Will be. Therefore, the first document cannot be printed as intended. For example, kerning or some other font characteristic (eg, font spacing, etc.) may differ between the first font and the second font. These differences can affect the printed document in various ways, including text reflow on the document pages, visual inaccuracies in the printed document, and the like. Additionally or alternatively, these effects can be difficult for the user to notice and can result in cost overruns, including overruns associated with, for example, reprinting the document.

  Furthermore, whether or not a font conflict occurs and the computing system will incorrectly process a document related to the font conflict may depend on various factors. Depending on the configuration, whether or not a font conflict occurs may depend on font activation and / or document processing timing. For example, a computing system may be able to process multiple documents in parallel. When processing documents in parallel, proper processing of the document depends on whether the last font activated by the computing system is the correct font for the document (eg, the font used by the designer when the document was created). It may be decided. In one particular parallel processing timing sequence, the correct font may be the last activated font, so that the computing system processes the document properly. Under various parallel processing timing sequences, the wrong font may be the last activated font, which causes the computing system to process the document incorrectly as described above.

  Additionally and / or alternatively, whether or not a font conflict occurs may depend on the operating system of the computing system. For example, if a conflicting font is activated by the computing system in the local process space or not globally, if a document with the conflicting font is not processed in the same local process space, the computing system Documents can be processed properly. However, if conflicting fonts are activated globally, the computing system may misprocess the document. In view of these considerations regarding whether font conflicts occur or not, font conflicts may be difficult to detect in the normal manner (eg, inspection by a user, etc.). However, as will be described in more detail below, the computing system prevents potential font conflicts by identifying potential font conflicts and resolving the potential font conflicts prior to subsequent processing of the document. be able to. Thus, by preventing the occurrence of font conflicts, it is possible to process a document regardless of how it is processed by the computing system (eg, serial or parallel) and / or the type of operating system of the computing system. Become.

  In accordance with various aspects of the disclosure, a computing system (eg, the computing system environment 100 of FIG. 1) prevents font conflicts (eg, the font conflicts illustrated in FIG. 2) from occurring, so that the document It can be configured to perform steps that prevent incorrect processing from taking place. In some embodiments, the computing system may include one or more font modules (eg, font module 117 of FIG. 1), a computing system operating system (eg, operating system 114 of FIG. 1), computing system document processing. Applications, computing system document creation applications, font managers, font databases, and / or some combination thereof may be utilized to prevent font conflicts. In some configurations, the font manager interfaces with the document creation program to provide correct font information about the document's fonts, and to prevent additional font conflicts, providing additional information related to the document's fonts. Also good.

  FIG. 4 shows an example of a method for providing correct font information regarding the font of a document. As seen in step 401, the font of the document is identified. For example, the font manager may identify a font of a document currently designed by the document creation program in conjunction with the document creation program. In one such example, the font manager determines which font is currently used in the document being designed.

  In step 403, the characteristics of each identification font are confirmed. Depending on the configuration, the font characteristics may include font type, font name, font version, font foundry, and / or other information related to the visual characteristics of the font (eg, font outline information, width table, kerning table, etc. ) May be included. Font characteristics can be confirmed from various sources. For example, the font characteristics may be ascertained from a document, a computing system activation font, a font installed on the computing system, and / or a font database font. In one example, a font property is a font file that is used by the document creation software to render the document being designed (eg, the font associated with the activation font corresponding to the font name used in the document). File).

  In step 405, correct font information is determined based on the font characteristics. With correct font information, it is possible to specify font characteristics. When the font characteristics are specified, the correct font information can be used to provide information that allows the same font file to be identified later during document processing. For example, the correct font information can include information that allows the font version, foundry, type, and / or name to be identified later. Furthermore, the correct font information may include an error detection code based on one or more of the identified characteristics. In some embodiments, the error checking code may take the form of a checksum value based on information about the visual characteristics of the font. As an example, the checksum value is obtained from information about a font outline, a width table, and a kernel table. Correct font information can take a variety of forms, including a collection of data including one or more characteristics, a multi-value key designating one or more characteristics, and the like.

  In step 407, the correct font information is stored as data associated with the document. Depending on the configuration, the correct font information may be stored as one or more independent files associated with the document. In other configurations, the correct font information can be inserted as metadata for the document. By storing the correct font information and associating the stored data with the designed document, the correct font information can be accessed later. For example, the stored data can be accessed by the font module and / or document processing program, and the correct font information can be utilized to provide additional information such as information identifying the actual font file used during document design. It may be.

In some configurations, if the computing system prevents font conflicts, the font module works with the document processing program to resolve and / or accurately resolve font conflicts prior to document processing (eg, printing, rendering, etc.). Font activation can be performed.
FIG. 5 illustrates an example of how a computing system may prevent font conflicts in accordance with at least some aspects of the present disclosure. Although this example method illustrates a font module as identifying and preventing font conflicts, various aspects, components, etc. of the computing system, or combinations thereof, can be used to create font conflicts or potential It is possible to deal with font conflicts. For example, a font manager may be used to identify and prevent font conflicts. Additionally or alternatively, a computing system may generally be utilized to identify and prevent font conflicts.
As illustrated in FIG. 5, in step 501, one or more fonts associated with one or more documents can be identified. For example, the font module identifies one or more fonts necessary for document playback in a document processing application. In some embodiments, the document can be in a format that includes the fonts necessary for its playback. Thus, the font module can identify the font associated with the document by processing the document itself. As an example, the document may have a portable document format (PDF). In PDF, fonts necessary for document reproduction are embedded in a file containing the document. In other embodiments, the document may include identification information that identifies fonts necessary for document reproduction. For example, the identification information may be a font name such as a Postscript name.

  Additionally or alternatively, the document file can include additional data. For example, one or more additional files may be attached to the document file. As an example, these additional files contain fonts necessary for document reproduction and / or fonts identified in the document file. Thus, the font module can identify the font associated with the document using the additional file. Such additional files may be included in the job jacket. The job jacket may include a file for identifying fonts necessary for document reproduction. Depending on the configuration, the job jacket has the same name as the original document, but may include a formatted file having a different file extension, such as XML or JKT. The job jacket may also include reference signs for one or more fonts and documents. The job jacket may contain any desired document format and is not restricted to XML documents or even strictly mark language documents, but rather optional if the required information is embedded. Is possible.

  As yet another example, as part of a print job, one or more additional files can be included that can be supplied to a prepress operator for printing. Depending on the configuration, the print job can be supplied by, for example, a USB flash drive, an optical disk, etc., and can be transmitted via one or more networks, such as the Internet, or either. Is possible. The print job can be further encapsulated in file encapsulation and / or in a compressed format such as ZIP, TAR, etc.

In step 503, potential font conflicts are identified (eg, it is determined whether a font conflict is likely to occur). In various embodiments, the font module may include an identified font, a font installed in and / or activated on a computing system, a document in which the font is identified, and / or an identified font. It is possible to identify potential font conflicts based on their activation level. For conflicts based on activated fonts, the font manager may in some cases include one or more globally activated fonts, one or more locally activated fonts, and / or some combination thereof. It is also possible to check.
The font module identifies potential font conflicts based on font identification information (eg, the Postscript name of one or more fonts active in the computing system). If the Postscript name of the active font is the same as the Postscript name of the identified font, the font module identifies this as a potential font conflict and proceeds to step 504.
As another example, the font module may be based on whether the identified font has the same or similar identification information (eg, Postscript name) as the one or more fonts identified in step 501. Font conflicts may be identified. Additionally or alternatively, whether or not a font conflict is identified, even if two or more fonts have the same or similar identification information, may be based on the activation level of the font. For example, if both fonts are activated globally, font conflicts may exist between the fonts. This situation can thus be identified as a potential font conflict. However, if the two fonts are activated in different process spaces, no font conflicts can occur and potential font conflicts cannot be identified.

  If a potential font conflict is not identified, the document can be made available for subsequent processing in step 509. The font module may not be able to identify font conflicts based on various font information, activation levels, and the like. For example, a font that is only activated locally in a different process space cannot be identified as a conflict. As another example, the identification information between the identified font and / or the activated font may be different.

  Once a potential font conflict is identified, optional step 504 stores information related to the document and / or the original state of the font associated with the font conflict. Depending on the configuration, this may include storing a document corresponding to the font conflict and information relating to the font conflict and the font. For example, the font module can store font identification information related to the font conflict (for example, the Postscript name of the font related to the font conflict). In some configurations, the font module may store reference codes for documents that include conflicting fonts (and / or reference codes for portions of the document).

  In step 505, font conflicts can be prevented. According to aspects of the present disclosure, the font module can block identified font conflicts in various ways. For example, the font module can correct information on one or more fonts related to a font conflict, correct one or more documents related to the font conflict, and correct the information to the one or more documents. Font correction information may be included. The prevention of font conflict will be described in more detail later.

In step 507, the documents are made available for subsequent processing (eg, printing, display, rendering, editing, etc.). Therefore, when performing subsequent processing on those documents, the intended font is used during processing (eg, accessing the correct font file during document processing since the font is actively activated according to the modified information). become). In optional step 508, the document can be further modified to restore the original state of the document. Depending on the configuration, this step may not be performed. For example, if the document has not been modified, there is no need to restore the original state of the sentence and this step is skipped. Instead, in this step, it is first checked whether or not the document has been modified. If the document has been modified from the original state, the document may be restored to the original state. In some cases, the font module can also modify the document changed in step 505 to prevent potential font conflicts.
In optional step 508, the font module can substitute the original identification information into the document to restore the original state of the document. For example, if the original reference font “Helvetica” in the first document has been modified to represent a modified font with a Postscript name of “Helvetica 123XYZ”, the first document is modified once again to “Helvetica 123XYZ”. Is replaced with the original identification information (for example, “Helvetica”).
In some embodiments, the font module accesses the information stored during optional step 504 and based on the stored information that may cause a font conflict and / or the information identified in step 503. Restore the document to its original state. For example, the font module accesses the stored information, retrieves the original identification information of the font related to the font conflict (eg, “Helvetica”), and whenever the font is referenced in the document, the font module The original identification information is modified to be used (for example, the reference code of the identification information of the modified font is replaced with “Helvetica”).

  FIG. 6 illustrates an example method for preventing font conflicts according to one or more aspects of the present disclosure. In step 601, a replacement font for one or more fonts related to a font conflict is determined. Depending on the configuration, the replacement font is determined based on the identification information of the font related to the conflict. For example, depending on the configuration, the font module determines a replacement font based on the Postscript name of the font related to the conflict. In one such example, the font module can access a font database and search for a font to be used as a replacement font based on the font name.

  As another configuration, the replacement font may be determined based on the additional information. For example, the font module may use correct font information related to the document (for example, correct font information in FIG. 4) when designing the document. As described above, the correct font information may include information specifying the characteristics of the font used at the time of document creation. In some cases, the replacement font can be determined using the correct font information, which may include the font type, name, foundry, version, error checking code, and the like. As an example, the replacement font may be the same font as the correct font information. Accordingly, the determined replacement font may be the same font type, name, foundry, version, etc. as the correct font information. As another example, the replacement font may be the same font as the correct font information. Therefore, if the determined replacement font includes characteristics common to the correct font information (for example, font name and font version), it also includes characteristics (for example, font foundry) different from the correct font information. There is a possibility.

In some cases, the font module may need to determine a replacement font from several font candidates when determining the replacement font. To select a replacement font from multiple candidates, the font module can use various techniques. As one technique, the font with the most consistent characteristics may be selected. As another technique, some of the characteristics of correct font information may be considered more important than others. For example, a font foundry characteristic may be considered less important than a photo name and / or font version characteristic (for example, a different font foundry can imply that a font found for a different font foundry It is only allowed). Thus, in one such example, two font candidates both match the correct font information in all characteristics except one, and the first candidate has different font version characteristics, but the second candidate If the font foundry characteristics are different, the font module can select the second candidate as the replacement font.
As another technique, an error check code that can be included in correct font information may be used. As described above, the error checking code can be based on the visual characteristics of the font. Thus, fonts with matching codes are considered to be the same font or a visually similar font. As an example, the font module may determine the code of the font candidate using the same function that generated the error check code for correct font information. The replacement font may be selected as a candidate having a code that matches the error check code from the code candidates. As will be apparent to those skilled in the art, the font candidates can be selected from other techniques including, for example, a hybrid technique that combines two or more of the techniques described above.

  Additionally or alternatively, the font manager may access various font sources when determining the replacement font. For example, the font module may access fonts installed on the computing system and / or access an independent font database (eg, a font database associated with a font manager). In some configurations, the font manager can determine a replacement font from an independent font database and install the replacement font on the computing system. Alternatively, the font manager may install the replacement font in the computing system if the replacement font is not found in the computing system.

In step 603, the replacement font information may be corrected. Depending on the configuration, the font module may modify the replacement font identification information. For example, the font module adds an alphanumeric string to the identification information so that the identification information of the replacement font is different from the identification information of other fonts related to the font conflict (for example, “123XYZ” in the Postscript name of “Helvetica”). May be added to generate new identification information of “Helvetica 123XYZ”).
As another configuration, the font module may replace the identification information with new identification information. For example, the font module generates an alphanumeric character string and replaces the identification information of the conflicting font with an alphanumeric character string (for example, the Postscript name having one conflict among the fonts related to the font conflict is changed to “123XYZ”. ”).
In yet another configuration, the font module may add or replace identification information based on correct font information. For example, by adding one or more characters included in the correct font information to the Postscript name of the replacement font / substituting with those characters, there is a conflict between the Postscript name of the replacement font and the Postscript name of another font related to the conflict. It may not occur anymore.
In step 605, the document may be modified to include a replacement font. For example, the document may be modified to refer to the replacement font instead of the original conflict font. For example, if there is a font conflict between the first font of the first document having the identification information of “Helvetica” and the second font of the second document having the same identification information, the font module Modify the first document and / or the second document. In some configurations, if the font module determines a replacement font for the first font (eg, determines the replacement font and modifies its identification information to “Helvetica 123XYZ”), the font module modifies the first document. May be. Accordingly, the font module may modify the first document so that the reference to the conflicting information of “Helvetica” is replaced with the replacement font correction information (eg, Helvetica 123XYZ). Alternatively, if the font module determines a replacement font for the second font (eg, determines the replacement font and modifies its identification information to “Helvetica_v3_0”), the font module modifies the second document. May be. Therefore, the font module may modify the second document so that the reference to the information having the conflict of “Helvetica” is replaced with the correction information of the replacement font (for example, Helvetica_v3_0).

  In optional step 607, the font associated with the font conflict can be activated. In some embodiments, the font module activates only replacement fonts. In other embodiments, the font module may activate any and / or all of the fonts associated with the font conflict. In yet another configuration, the font module may activate only fonts that are not currently activated in the computing system. Further, depending on the configuration, if the replacement font is not already installed on the computing system, the font module can install the replacement font before activating the replacement font. Step 607 is an optional step, as in some embodiments, font activation may occur simultaneously with and / or during subsequent processing of the document.

Various embodiments of the present disclosure can provide several advantages for users such as creative department specialists or prepress operators. For example, a creative department expert who prints multiple documents does not have to worry about which fonts are active in the system, because font conflicts between documents are prevented before the documents are printed.
Additionally and / or alternatively, batch printing of documents can be automated regardless of whether the documents in the print job include a font with the same Postscript name as the system font required to run the operating system. is there. Therefore, even if the document includes conflicting fonts, it is possible to perform simultaneous printing or parallel processing of the document. Thus, the document can be printed as intended by the creative department professional and / or designer.

  The methods and features listed herein can also be implemented through any number of computer readable media on which a computer can store read instructions. Examples of computer readable media that may be utilized include RAM, ROM, EEPROM, flash memory, or other memory technology, CD-ROM, DVD, or other optical disk storage device, magnetic cassette, magnetic tape, Examples thereof include a magnetic storage device.

  While particular embodiments of the present invention have been described and illustrated, it should be understood that the invention is not limited thereto as modifications by those skilled in the art are possible. This application is intended to cover all modifications within the spirit and scope of the underlying invention disclosed and claimed herein.

Claims (14)

Identifying, by a computer, a first font required to process the first document;
Identifying a conflict between the first font and the second font by the computer;
Determining the replacement font for the first document such that the identification information of the replacement font is the same as the identification information of the first font;
And correcting the identification information before Symbol substitute font based on the conflict,
As the first of the substitute font instead treatment of the first document fonts are required, a step of modifying the first document based on the modified identifying information of the substitute font, the A computer-implemented method. The method of claim 1, wherein activating the replacement font in a computing system enables access to the replacement font by an application of the computing system when processing the first document. A method performed on a computer . Determining the replacement font comprises:
Comparing characteristics of a plurality of font candidates with characteristics of correct font information associated with the first document;
The computer-implemented method of claim 1, further comprising selecting the replacement font from the plurality of font candidates based on the comparison result. Storing information related to the conflict including at least one of the first font and information related to the first document before modifying the first document;
4. The computer-implemented method of claim 3, comprising the step of performing a second modification to the first document based on the stored information after further processing of the first document. . The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein identifying the conflict comprises comparing the identification information of the first font and the identification information of the second font. 6. The computer according to claim 5, wherein the step of identifying the conflict includes a step of confirming that the identification information of the first font and the identification information of the second font are the same. How to be . Activating the replacement font based on the correction information of the replacement font;
The computer-implemented method of claim 1, comprising printing the first document using the replacement font. The identification information of the first font is at least one of the TrueType name and Postscript name of the first font, and the identification information of the second font is at least one of the TrueType name and Postscript name of the second font. 6. The computer-implemented method of claim 5, wherein the method is one. The program for making a computer perform the method as described in any one of Claims 1-8 . At least one processor;
A memory operably coupled to the processor;
The memory is equipment when executed by at least one of said processors,
Identifying a first font required for processing the first document;
Identifying a conflict between the first font and the second font;
Determining the replacement font for the first document such that the replacement font identification information is the same as the first font identification information ;
Modifying the identification information of the replacement font based on the conflict;
A step of modifying the first document on the basis of the so first the substitute font instead treatment of the first document fonts are required, the modified identifying information of the substitute font, An apparatus for storing computer readable instructions that cause the computer to perform the above. Determining the replacement font comprises:
Comparing characteristics of a plurality of font candidates with characteristics of correct font information associated with the first document;
The apparatus according to claim 10, further comprising: selecting the replacement font from the plurality of font candidates based on the comparison result. The memory, when executed by at least one of the processors, includes at least one of a font associated with the conflict and information associated with the document associated with the conflict prior to modification of the information associated with the conflict. Storing information about the conflict;
After the further processing of the first document, applying a second correction to the first document based on the stored information;
The apparatus of claim 1 0, characterized in that for storing further computer-readable instructions for implementing the. Allowing the device to identify the conflict comprises:
A comparison between the identification information of the first font and the identification information of the second font;
Determining that the identification information of the first font and the identification information of the second font are the same;
The apparatus of claim 10, wherein the apparatus is configured to identify the conflict based on: When the memory is executed by the at least one processor, the memory
Activating the replacement font based on the modified identification information of the first font;
Printing the first document using the replacement font;
11. The apparatus of claim 10, further storing computer readable instructions that cause the computer to perform the following.